Book Review: Mark Gregory - No Sleep Till Saltburn

Stockton 1982
 Mark Gregory has just lost his job as a milkman. But that's OK because Mark has a plan to produce his very own Rock magazine.
 Over the next 18 months or so, young Mr Gregory will try his hand at radio presenting, accidentally double-book two heavy metal bands with a girl's 18th birthday party, become manager to the Northeast's unruly answer to Journey, write for Kerrang and yes, put together his very own rock magazine.
 If he could just work out how to get people to buy it...

  During the early 80s the industrial towns of the Northeast pumped out a small horde of loud, lairy and enthusiastic Heavy Metal bands  - the rather cumbersomely titled North East New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NENWOBHM) - and this book is from somebody who was there when it was all kicking off.

 Rock and Roll memoirs can have the unfortunate effect of making the writer look like an utter wanker. I lost all respect for a certain ex-Kerrang writer when he admitted faking it just to earn some heroin money. And did anybody come away from "The Dirt" thinking that Motley Crue were people you'd want next door? I doubt it.

  Luckily Mark Gregory comes across as likeable throughout. I don't know if he's deliberately downplaying his talents but there's a definite sense that in true British fashion, he's getting by on luck and enthusiasm.
  There's also something very Northern and British about a heavy metal band being announced with a reminder that there's pie and peas on sale at the back of the venue.

 Not to say that there isn't Rock n Roll behaviour happening but it tends to be fuelled by Bitter rather than Peruvian marching Powder. 

 Strippers and Groupies? Not happening either. 

 You do get some trout-poaching though. 

 There's plenty of entertaining moments scattered throughout. The one that immediately springs to mind is a Dutch promoter playing Mark a tape from a new US band called Metallica...

 I've been a big fan of the NWOBHM for years and I've always enjoyed books from the underbelly of the music industry. The whole thing is told with warm humour, charm and a cast of fascinating characters. So I enjoyed this one a lot. I read the whole thing in pretty much one hit, which happens rarely these days. 

  If I have a criticism, it might be that "No Sleep Till Saltburn" doesn't end with a bang. It's more of a snapshot of a period in a young man's life that closes with the hero in a better place than he was and hopefully going towards somewhere better still.

 If any of the following mean something to you - Battleaxe, Geddes Axe, Satan, Black Rose, Arizona - or if you just fancy a trip back to a long-gone era, then I think you might enjoy this book.

Screw it. I feel like listening to some Battleaxe

   

UPDATE: Mark Gregory is hoping to bring out a sequel sometime next year.
Pop over to his site for details and sundry NWOBHM goings-on.

http://www.nosleeptillsaltburn.blogspot.co.uk/ 

 That's all folks.